Course

Conducting II

Important Notice

This course is not active. Please contact Department Chair for more information.

Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Department
Music
Course code
MUSC 3270
Credits
1.50
Semester length
15
Max class size
20
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course is a continuation of Conducting I, with emphasis on more advanced conducting technique. Topics addressed include: complex meters and rhythms, advanced technical conducting issues, expressive gestures, rehearsal procedures, listening as a conductor, error detection and score reading at the piano. The differences between choral and instrumental conducting will be addressed, exploring issues specific to each.
Course content
  • Continued development of clear ictus within more widely ranging characters of beat and pattern.
  • Continued development of gestural expressiveness.
  • Conducting patterns: 5/4, 7/4, and more complex changing meters.
  • Polyrhythms, understanding tempo relationships.
  • More advanced visual rhythmic dictations to show character and accuracy of beat.
  • Rehearsal issues: error detection (learning to listen as a conductor), and methods of correcting perceived problems in the ensemble.  Issues of ensemble dynamics and behaviour.
  • Leadership issues: understanding how to motivate performers.
  • Passages from the choral repertoire will be assigned as conducting exercises.  Instrumental passages may be used in addition, depending upon availability of players.
  • Intermediate score reading assignments in all modern clefs: treble, bass, alto and tenor c-clefs.
Learning activities

Lecture/demonstration, group and individual practice in class.  Students will conduct their peers in the classroom, receiving immediate feedback on the effectiveness of their gestures.  Students will be videotaped in class for their own study.  When appropriate, the videos may be viewed during the class to aid instruction.  Score reading assignments will be evaluated in separate sessions with the instructor.

Means of assessment

In class conducting assignments (6-10) (ongoing preparation for and achievement in class activities) 50%

Final exam 40%

Final score reading assignment 10%

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this course, students should possess a competence in intermediate conducting technique.  They will understand the differences in instrumental and choral conducting, and be able to conduct metrically and rhythmically complex passages of music.  They should also be able to hear basic problems in ensemble/intonation/timbre, and have a basic understanding of how to address them in rehearsal.  Students should also be able to read C-clefs in intermediate score reading exercises at the piano.

Textbook materials

Textbooks and Materials to be Purchased by Students (same as Conducting I)

Conductor’s baton.  Metronome.

R.O. Morris and Howard Ferguson: Preparatory Exercises in Score Reading (Oxford U. Press)

 

Other assigned or recommended texts may include:

Ray Robinson: Choral Music - A Norton Historical Anthology (Norton)

Elizabeth Green: The Modern Conductor

Hideo Saito: The Saito Conducting Method

Max Rudolph: The Grammar of Conducting (G. Schirmer)

Brenda Smith & Robert Sataloff: Choral Pedagogy, second edition (Plural Publ.)

Harold A. Decker & Julius Herford: Choral Conducting Symposium (Prentice Hall)

Requisites

Prerequisites

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for MUSC 3270
There are no applicable transfer credits for this course.

Course Offerings

There are no course offerings this semester.